Trump: U.S. does not want to discuss Huawei with China

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., before his departure to Camp David, August 30, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States does not want to discuss the U.S. blacklisting of Huawei Technologies with China as the two biggest world economies try to end escalating trade tensions.

“It’s a national security concern,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Huawei is a big concern of our military, of our intelligence agencies, and we are not doing business with Huawei.

“And we’ll see what happens with respect to China, but Huawei has been not a player that we want to discuss, (that) we want to talk about right now.”

It was unclear whether Trump’s comments indicated a change on whether he would be open to discussing the Chinese tech giant in trade talks with Beijing.

The U.S. president in the past has said he would be open to including Huawei in talks to reach a trade deal with Beijing. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping this summer agreed the United States would ease restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and China would make unspecified purchases of U.S. farm products.

The United States placed Huawei on the Commerce Department’s so-called Entity List in May over national security concerns. U.S. parts and components generally cannot be sold to those on the list without special licenses.